Savor it, for it was a special year indeed

Remember when they scored, like, a bazillion points in two minutes against Gaylord?

Remember when they stopped Ogemaw Heights on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter?

Remember when they ran wild on Traverse City Central?

Remember how they hammered Marquette?

Remember the atmosphere at Curtis Field for the Cheboygan game?

Remember the whuppins they put on Sault Ste. Marie, Cadillac and Alpena?

Remember the interceptions by Hunter Keiswetter and Ethan Hensley that preserved the playoff win over Ogemaw?

"All I've got to say about that is I'll remember it the rest of my life," Petoskey tri-captain Ken Provost said Saturday in the Curtis Field locker room minutes after playing his last high school football game. "The memories that I got out of this year are just too big for my brain. It's just unbelievable."

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Unbelievable?

Maybe.

But then maybe was probably the operative word going into the 2008 season for Petoskey High School football.

Maybe they'll have enough kids to field a team. Maybe all these juniors will step up and immediately contribute. They'll have to. Maybe the seniors, all seven of 'em - seven? - yes, seven, will make something of their final high school football season.

Make something? I'd say.

"We thank the seniors, first of all, the seven kids we have who are seniors, for sticking with the program," sixth-year Petoskey coach Kerry VanOrman said Saturday after the 27-3 loss to Bay City John Glenn. "They can hold their heads up high from here on out."

Indeed. Tell me where to find that kind of heart, that kind of fortitude, that kind of desire, and I'll bottle it.

That's what it's all about right there.

Back in August, a mere two dozen players showed up for the first day of practice. A football team with just 24 kids? At a Class B school with a thousand students? You've got to be kidding me.

It was no joke.

And yet here we are in November, two days after the season ended with a second-round playoff loss. Eleven weeks of memories, a league championship, a playoff win, a school-record tying nine victories, the second-most points in school history.

Sure were a whole lot of smiles, a whole lot of laughs along the way.

There was the stop of Ogemaw on the Falcons' try for a two-point conversion, the second-half surge against Gaylord, the get-it-done win at T.C. Central when James Proctor and Mike Suter combined for 425 yards rushing, and a 21-12 win over Cheboygan before maybe the biggest crowd in Curtis Field history.

Thumpings of Sault Ste. Marie, Cadillac and Alpena, and a humbling loss to Traverse City West - a loss that could have sent the season into a tailspin.

Instead, it served as motivation. Restart the engine, get back at it, you've got a whole lot ahead of you.

There's a lesson there about turning things around, looking in the mirror, kicking disappointment to the curb, not allowing yourself to go there.

The '08 Northmen were all that and more. They weren't going to let one loss leave them with a what-if feeling. A maybe, a what-could-have-been.

"We don't want to forget what was done this year," VanOrman said. "Our kids, right now, they're dejected because they lost the game. They had real high hopes of winning the district. Right now, they're suffering, but they'll wake up tomorrow and reality will set in with what they've done.

"I tried to tell them 'Don't forget everything you've done here this year, not only for this football team, but for the community.' It'll settle in for them."

Yeah, it hurt on Saturday. It always does when the season is over, whether you win a league title and make the playoffs, or you win only a few games. The finality of it always stings.

High school football is like that. The sport holds a special place in American lore. It can galvanize a school, an entire community. Why do you think 4,000 people turned out Saturday on what turned out to be a dreary afternoon, weather-wise, at Curtis Field?

It might not seem like it to the players as they work their tails off in the weight room in the offseason, or when they're sweating in the hot August sun during two-a-day practices, but the time a young man spends on football is relatively small in the grand scheme of things.

But there are bonds and friendships formed on the field that are unlike any you've ever had, or are likely to have, in your lifetime.

"We were close," Provost said, his voice cracking a bit. "I mean, I love every single guy in (the locker room). They're my great friends. Not one person's away from that circle. It's a tight, tight team."

And a special one. Teams like the '08 Northmen don't come along every day. They put Petoskey football back on the map. Hard for Provost, Hensley, Taylor Lewis, D.J. VanSlembrouck, Dave Shawano, Derek Simmonds and Grant Reed to say good-bye.

They go on to other sports, back to class, and in a few short months, graduation. Then it's college for some, perhaps the military, jobs, real life.